1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a method of producing artificial zeolite by heat treatment in the presence of water and an alkali of an inorganic component comprising silicic acid and aluminum, as well as a method of producing artificial zeolite by heat treatment in the presence of water and an alkali of a mixture that has been obtained by adding at least 1 or 2 or more of glass, diatomaceous earth and aluminum dross to an inorganic component comprising silicic acid and aluminum.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past coal ash, particularly combustion ash or so-called fly ash, the fine powder that is produced when coal is burned by thermal power plants, etc., has been used as the starting material for artificial zeolite. This artificial zeolite has been produced by adding an aqueous 2 to 4 N alkali solution to the starting material and heat treating the product under atmospheric pressure. Therefore, the quality of the artificial zeolite that had been produced depended on the composition of the coal used as the starting material, and there were also limits in terms of this quality.
Moreover, synthesis of zeolite used for catalysts, which is called synthetic zeolite, is accomplished by performing a reaction at a high temperature of 100.degree. C. or higher. In addition, since the production of zeolite is impeded if high-purity starting materials, including silicic acid and aluminum, are not used, starting materials of a low purity cannot be employed.
On the other hand, volcanic ejecta, such as effusive rock, volcanic ash, pumice, volcanic glass, etc., that is found around volcanoes cannot be used as an industrial starting material or on farmland and methods of using this volcanic ejecta pose problems in terms of efficient use of land.
Moreover, trash is being separated for disposal into several different types of trash and collected by municipalities throughout Japan. For example, this trash can be classified as trash that will burn, trash that will not burn, coarse trash, toxic trash, etc., and this classification method varies with the municipality. Of these, trash that will burn is generally incinerated in an incinerator, but treatment of the incineration ash becomes a problem. Moreover, of the trash that will not burn, some of the glass, metal, and synthetic resin is recycled, but treatment of synthetic resin products, including glass bottles, etc., metal cans, etc., synthetic resin trays, pet bottles, etc., is a problem.
Today the amount of waste discarded throughout Japan exceeds 50,000,000 tons and of this, approximately 85% is treated by incineration, crushing, recycling, etc. However, the amount of trash being reclaimed, including both the trash that is immediately reclaimed and the incineration ash from waste management facilities, is increasing annually. Consequently, much of this incineration ash, which is increasing annually, is being reclaimed and used on soil or being compacted in cement and discarded by each municipality, but it is difficult to guarantee a disposal site and this has become a significant social problem.
Furthermore, treatment of diatomaceous earth waste in industries that employ diatomaceous earth and treatment of the aluminum dross that is produced during smelting and refining in the field of aluminum smelting are industrial problems.